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Flying Manta Rays
Another flying mystery from West Virginia that could potentially be linked to Mothman is some way is the airborne "Manta Ray" that was witnessed on December 3rd 2004, near Ashton and also in Mason County. The sighting occurred between 6pm and 7pm on a clear night after a man and a woman departed Point Pleasant in route to Huntington. Here is the woman's report: "A friend and I were traveling on Rt. 2 towards Huntington, WV. I was on my way to set up with the booth setup and show logistics. We had just gone over the railroad tracks outside of Ashton WV and were on a long straight stretch of road. There was distant oncoming traffic and the headlights were on. There were no cars behind us in sight. I was in the passenger seat and my friend was driving. I noticed a sudden movement in the sky over the Ohio River to my right in front of the car. It was greyish, smooth, winged shape. The shape swooped in a figure 8 in front of the windshield and then was suddenly gone to the left of us. It didn't fly out of sight it was just gone. This happened very quickly, but as I am a visual artist, It was impressed into my memory banks! Size: Bigger than the car. The wingspread was wider than the 2 lane road we were on. The wings seemed to stretch wider somehow as it did the figure 8 swoop. It was never more than 25 feet away from us as it flew towards the windshield. We thought it was going to crash into the windshield! At one point during the swoop it was only about 5 feet off of the pavement. Color: Grey, translucent like a jellyfish. As it banked and swooped I could see many angles of it and somehow it looked more transparent as it turned some parts to us. I immediately thought it was like a manta ray. The body was fattish like a manta ray or a bat. The wings were long and smooth and sort of pointed at the tip. I saw no texture or roughness on it, only smooth surface. Characteristic: Only body and wings - no head, eyes, tail or feet. It did not look humanoid in any way. On the other hand, it wasn't a bird either. It moved more like something in the ocean would movie - Did not flap the wings like a bird or flutter them like a bat, but stretched them instead. My friend (Who alas passed away a year ago) said to him the wings looked ragged like there were pieces coming off of them. He also said he got a good look at the underneath and it looked grey and smooth. This absolutely was not a machine! It was articulated like a living creature and seemed like something organic. As I look back on this sighting, I wonder if it was something playing with us - It happened so quickly that the only scary part was when we thought it was going to crash into the windshield. It was so beautiful and strange! It reminded me of a sea creature more than anything else, maybe or air is like water to them." 'Other Witnesses' Another flying manta ray called the "Horton Horror" was reporter in Horton in Randolph County. A woman and her daughter saw a manta-shaped "something" that glided along over or near their car. Researcher Kurt McCoy received an account about a manta ray creature that was so weird he was inclined to discount it as a "campfire story". Perhaps it cannot be dismissed in light of the other accounts. According to McCoy, a man was driving along a foggy road at night and came upon a "huge ray-shaped thing" that was straddling the road ahead of him. At first he saw only two reddish-orange spots that he thought were bicycle reflectors in the fog. He honked his horn and was shocked to see the "reflectors" blink at him. Then a ray-shaped dark form lifted up off the road and glided over a hill, vanishing into the fog-filled valley below. So, Its a headless grey flying creature in West Virginia that has reflective reddish eyes and doesn't flap its wings. Could it be the Mothman or something else entirely? The first report mentioned no eyes but the second one clearly did. Perhaps, the first witnesses just didn't see them. "Flying Manta Ray" could just be another way to describe the same creature. Category:Mystery